Drug Smuggling

The Tarahumara became famous for running incredibly long distances. In recent years, cartels have exploited their talents by forcing them to ferry drugs into America. Now they’re running for their lives.

When Randy Lanier sped to Rookie of the Year honors at the 1986 Indianapolis 500, few knew his racing credentials, let alone his status as one of the nation’s most prolific drug runners, smuggling in tons of marijuana when he wasn’t on the track. Now, after 27 years in prison, Lanier is looking to the road ahead.

He was arrested for pushing his three grandsons so hard on a Grand Canyon hike that rangers feared for their lives. Their account of the summer they spent with their youthful grandpa would include an uncanny understanding of marijuana strains and a stopover in Jamaica.

How a Canadian used a Mohawk reservation’s lakes to smuggle tons of marijuana to stash houses in Brooklyn and Staten Island, resulting in nearly a billion in profits, which he laundered through the Sinaloa Cartel.

The Sinaloa cartel was flooding cocaine across the border. The DEA was listening. A four-part series based on hundreds of pages of transcripts from intercepted calls, court testimony, and investigative reports.